It didn't make her love him any less. It didn't make her think any less of him, but sometimes Kotoko wanted to experience something with raw passion. She wanted to see her hero come after the heroine and proclaim his love to her in a way that would never make her doubt him. Kotoko loved her own happy ending that she lived every day but sometimes she wanted something else something romantic, it was selfish of her but she figured that she wasn't asking for anything more she just wished that she had it sometimes.

Kotoko didn't ask for anything more. She just read romance to fill the whole in her life. It didn't much matter that the characters in her stories were fiction and in real life guys didn't openly acknowledge their love for their woman on live television to get there point across. They didn't drive half across the world to get to their women. They didn't realize they had made a big mistake in letting them go and come after them in the rain to proclaim their love…

Wait…

Yes they did.

Kotoko thought about how she had gotten Irie to admit that he loved her and a dazed look crossed over her face. It had been so romantic... Anyway, Kotoko knew that big romantic gestures were rare and not likely to happen to real people but she just wanted a little romance in her life every once in awhile. It was hard to believe that the Irie that had told her that she couldn't marry anyone else but him while standing in the rain was the Irie that she was married to. Irie hadn't shown a romantic gesture in months. They both worked too hard, they had a daughter, and they didn't spend enough time in the house together these days.

One day Kotoko went into her bedroom and went over to the nightstand to find that the book she was currenly reading. It was missing and she paused to think about where she had last had it. She thought about it but she was sure that she had left it on the nightstand. Irie had worked late last night and she had read in bed, waiting up for him, when he finally didn't come home at three in the morning she had given up, put the book on the nightstand and went to bed.

Now it was missing, and she was going to tear the house up looking for that book. Kotoko was just getting to the good part of the book she was reading and she was dying to know what was going to happen next, but no matter where she looked she couldn't find the book anywhere in the house.

Finally she gave up. She picked up her cell when it rang. It was her friends they wanted to know if she wanted to go out. She agreed. It wasn't like she had had anything else to do tonight. Kotoko was going to lose her mind looking for that thing when she got home. But until then she would just enjoy a night out with friends.

Kotoko had had fun tonight. It had been awhile since she had gone out. It left her feeling in a better mood then she had been in awhile. When Kotoko came home later that night all the lights were out, and it didn't look like anyone was home. It was a little late but the house had a silence to it that usually wasn't around when her daughter or her mother-in-law was home. Kotoko climbed the steps without even bothering to turn on any lights and was slightly confused when she found a candle sitting on a side table in the hallway. Beside the candle was a note. Kotoko looked at the note for a second and then she actually read it.

The chances of me doing this again are very slim. Come into the bedroom. –Irie

Kotoko didn't know what to expect when she walked into the bedroom, but when she opened the door she didn't expect to see candles everywhere and Irie waiting for her on the side of the bed. He just sat there like he didn't know what to do with himself.

"I'm out of my element here." He admitted without looking at her and there was defiantly a pink tinge to his cheeks.

Kotoko didn't know what to say but finally something made it past her mouth.

"How?" She breathed.

Irie shrugged. "I asked mom to give up the house to ourselves for the night. She didn't ask questions and I didn't give her answers. I think she's hoping for another grandchild."

If Irie's thoughts for the night where anything similar to the thoughts that were popping into her head her mother-in-law might get her wishes granted. The thought came without her permission but they still made her blush. It didn't matter how long she had been a married woman she still blushed at the thought of sex.

Kotoko still had a hard time believing her eyes.

"You did this for me." It wasn't a question.

Irie just stared at her."I did this for you."

Kotoko couldn't help herself. She started to cry and when she started she found that she couldn't stop. Irie loved her, she knew that, but he rarely ever told her. This proved to her more than any other words he could every say just how much, because if there was anything that she knew about Irie it was that he did not do romantic gestures.

"I love you!" Kotoko threw herself into her husband's arms and sobbed tears of joy.

Irie's arms wrapped around her and he rocked her back and forth. He held her like she was made of spun glass and it only made her cry harder.

"I know." He kept saying over and over.

He didn't say he loved her right away but she knew. She knew. He couldn't do all of this for her if he didn't love her.

They held each other and danced to a song that only the two of them could hear and then he took her to bed and laid her down. He kissed her and took off her clothes and then he made love to her in a way that they hadn't been able to in so long.

Later that night she was curled up into his side and he was rubbing her back when she asked him what had brought all of this on.

And he told her.

"I love you."

A perfect end to a perfect night if you asked her, but still…

"This isn't like you."

"I had a little help." He said dryly.

It was Kotoko so she was a little slow on the uptake. "What are you talking about?"

Irie nudged her and looked up and saw where he was staring at. The book that she had been looking all over sat on the side of the bed. Kotoko started to giggle. She had been looking for the book all along and her husband had had it all along.

Who would have thought? Could any woman be luckier in the world? She didn't think so.

END.

A/N: It's been a little longer then normal but I finally got something out. Hope you like it. Hope you see another story real soon.